Dr. Reppert, Thanks for posting this article. I hope most will realize that it is just an attempt at humor. --and I couldn't help but think, "might explain many things" in the way one might view the erratic ways of "almighty." As with simple explanations though, it's a bit "to easy?" I've been working through Phillip Yancy's book, "Disappointment with God" and these subjects, along with "unanswered prayer" are difficult. Jim Truscott
An idea, which has terrified millions, claims that some of us will go to a place called Hell, where we will suffer eternal torture. This does not scare me because, when I try to imagine a Mind behind this universe, I cannot conceive that Mind, usually called “God,” as totally mad. I mean, guys, compare that “God” with the worst monsters you can think of--Adolph Hitler, Joe Stalin, that sort of guy. None of them ever inflicted more than finite pain on their victims. Even de Sade, in his sado-masochistic fantasy novels, never devised an unlimited torture. The idea that the Mind of Creation (if such exists) wants to torture some of its critters for endless infinities of infinities seems too absurd to take seriously. Such a deranged Mind could not create a mud hut, much less the exquisitely mathematical universe around us.
If such a monster-God did exist, the sane attitude would consist of practicing the Buddhist virtue of compassion. Don’t give way to hatred: try to understand and forgive him. Maybe He will recover his wits some day.
SOURCE: Robert Anton Wilson, “Cheerful Reflections on Death and Dying,” Gnoware, February 1999
2 comments:
Dr. Reppert,
Thanks for posting this article. I hope most will realize that it is just an attempt at humor. --and I couldn't help but think, "might explain many things" in the way one might view the erratic ways of "almighty."
As with simple explanations though, it's a bit "to easy?"
I've been working through Phillip Yancy's book, "Disappointment with God" and these subjects, along with "unanswered prayer" are difficult.
Jim Truscott
An idea, which has terrified millions, claims that some of us will go to a place called Hell, where we will suffer eternal torture. This does not scare me because, when I try to imagine a Mind behind this universe, I cannot conceive that Mind, usually called “God,” as totally mad. I mean, guys, compare that “God” with the worst monsters you can think of--Adolph Hitler, Joe Stalin, that sort of guy. None of them ever inflicted more than finite pain on their victims. Even de Sade, in his sado-masochistic fantasy novels, never devised an unlimited torture. The idea that the Mind of Creation (if such exists) wants to torture some of its critters for endless infinities of infinities seems too absurd to take seriously. Such a deranged Mind could not create a mud hut, much less the exquisitely mathematical universe around us.
If such a monster-God did exist, the sane attitude would consist of practicing the Buddhist virtue of compassion. Don’t give way to hatred: try to understand and forgive him. Maybe He will recover his wits some day.
SOURCE: Robert Anton Wilson, “Cheerful Reflections on Death and Dying,” Gnoware, February 1999
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